The Questions are More Important Than the Answers

Category Archives: Project Based Learning

PBL is Project Base Learning. It is an idea premised on changing education paradigms which aim to make learning more relevant to the student by focusing on solving real-life problems rather than spending hours sitting in a classroom either listening to the teacher or copying out of textbooks.

The traditional approach to learning encourages memorisation and focuses on doing well in tests and often students soon forget what they have learnt once the test has been written. Just this week the OECD released international league tables comparing 15 year olds in reading, mathematics, and science. The countries that top the tables have been shown to employ harsh regimes of keeping students learning for ridiculously long hours with some sleeping at midnight on a daily basis as standard. That cannot be sustainable which is why a revolution in education is required and PBL is a very good starting point in which students spend more productive hours in school, solving real life problems though well structured projects which add diversity to their time in school away from the dull routines of similar work, monotonous patterns, and test oriented teaching.

PBL allows the student to use critical thinking, collaboration (we often tell students to stop copying!), communication with their peers and facilitators of the project, and they acquire critical life skills in the process which they will never acquire by being reminded to shut up and listen! We even have medication to help calm them down.

Africa would hugely benefit from this approach then maybe we can learn to solve our multiple challenges with a new breed of graduates.

The current education system has a one size fits all approach. We make the assumption that students of the same age group have similar educational needs. Is this the best we can do?

We know that everybody is different. Teachers are asked to differentiate when they plan for lessons. But the differentiation at best divides the class into three categories: the able, the average, and those who are struggling. This division is still not enough to cater for individual students. We have an issue with student to staff ratio. But there are technological solutions to this problem. Khan Academy is one example of how a single coach or teacher can attend to the individual needs of various age groups and abilities using software which generates personalised learning.

The World has inherited the Prussian Model of education whose objective was to produce workers for the agricultural and industrial revolutions. That era is gone. Machines are doing most of the work which was done by humans.

The World is ready to disrupt capital ownership and address inequality of income and of capital. The blockchain is the technology which will fairly reward those who participate in the new economic order.

The blockchain is breaking down physical barriers like banks and schools. The blockchain has applications in every driver of economic growth and development. Each person has the skills to contribute to the economy and their efforts can be rewarded accordingly.

The Dereck Tafuma University will use blockchain technology to provide personalised project based learning. We learn by doing. Each course will be a project which the students must complete and their results will be recorded on a blockchain.

"Academic excellence is overrated! Did I just say that? Oh, yes, I said it.Being top of your class does not necessarily guarantee that you will be at the top of life. You could graduate as the best student in Finance but it doesn't mean you will make more money than everybody else. The best graduating Law student does not necessarily become the best lawyer. The fact is life requires more than the ability to understand a concept, memorise it and reproduce it in an exam. School rewards people for their memory. Life rewards people for their imagination. School rewards caution, life rewards daring. School hails those who live by the rules. Life exalts those who break the rules and set new ones. So do I mean people shouldn't study hard in school? Oh, no, you should. But don't sacrifice every other thing on the altar of First Class. Don't limit yourself to the classroom. Do something practical.

Take a leadership position. Start a business and fail. That's a better Entrepreneurship 101.Join or start a club. Contest an election and lose. It will teach something Political Science 101 will not teach you. Attend a seminar. Read books outside the scope of your course. Go on missions and win a soul for eternal rewards... Do something you believe in! Think less of becoming an excellent student but think more of becoming an excellent person. Make the world your classroom!"

Mobile phone technology is the fastest growing form of communication in Africa. It is not surprising to see individuals with more than a single handset. It is also not surprising to see school children with mobile phones.

There has been a debate on whether mobile phone devices should be banned in schools. The main argument has been that mobile phones are a distraction to learning. People are absolutely right to be concerned as this does happen in some cases. The problem though is not the mobile phone but how it is being used. Banning mobile phones may be solution but there’s an innovative price to pay.

Mobile phone technology has become essential at collecting and processing information. There are applications that have been built specifically for students such as word processing, presentation, and spreadsheets. Some companies have adopted a mobile first philosophy where mobile presence takes centre stage in the design of their digital products.

There’s more to gain in allowing mobile phones in schools than in banning them. A robust mobile technology use policy may be all a school needs to circumvent the potential negative use of the gadgets. Technology is a double edged sword and it is upto us to harness the potential benefits of mobile phones as educational tools than to make a blanket ban that could disadvantage our children from accessing educational mobile applications.